Growing up as one of four children there should have always been someone to play with. With board games, card games, charades and swimming pools, in essence, there was always something to do. You’d think I spent a lot of time playing games with my siblings, but alas, you are mistaken.
As an older teen I found playing board and card games with friends much more fulfilling. And even as a young adult, age 22, some of the best and most laughter-filled times were had playing many-a-board game with my closest of buds.
Recently on vacation back to my hometown, I spent a few nights with my best friends playing a game called Scattergories. The object of the game is to be the person who fills out a list of categories with answers using the same letter, that are unique from the other players. The categories are various and consist of ides like: A Boy’s Name, Insects, Product Names, Terms of Endearment, Things Found at the Beach, Words Ending in LY, Sandwiches, and Pizza Toppings.
Almost anything goes. Answers that are creative are highly suggested to become the winner. An example of a creative answer given by the Scattergories’ rulebook is the use of “Knuckle” for the letter “K” for the category “Sandwiches”. While this is not the kind of sandwich you eat, it is a figure of speech.
The great debate with the game has been this: When giving a creative answer, how outside-the-box is TOO outside-the-box? According to the game, if any player wants to challenge the creativity of an answer, majority rules. So, for a category such as “Beers” and perhaps the letter is “B”, what kind of answer is acceptable? Some would say you had to name a KIND of beer, like Busch or Bud Light. Others, (myself included) would come up with a creative answer for this category item, such as Brewed or brewski even. Beers are brewed, a brewski is a nickname for a beer.
The category item simply says “Beers”. It does not say KIND of beer, but the argument is that it is “IMPLIED” so therefore, if the answer is not a type of beer than it must be wrong and challenged at once. The argument also goes on to say that a creative answer can not “describe” the category item. So if the item was “Cars”, one couldn’t say “metal” for the letter “M”, rather Mazda or Mercury. Again, I stress, the category item does not say TYPE of car. Therefore, who is to say that the wish of the creators of Scattergories MEANT that for every item, the only acceptable answer is the IMPLIED answer?
Other categories are more specific, including: Things Found at the Beach, Ways to Get From Here to There, Things That Are Round, Words Associated With Exercise, and Items You Save Up to Buy. Most of the categories that are specific include the words “things” or “items”, indicating that that answer calls for something in particular, something less general.
But, I digress. The great Scattergories Debate; when is creative unacceptable? When is outside-the-box no longer creative? I ask all of you Scattergories players everywhere for your feedback, your resolution to this great question: Would you have accepted “brewed” as a creative answer for “Beers”?
